Djirax’Ot speculates that Vaygris succeeded in creating her eighth and final lieutenant before the end, though Metas’In dismisses it as rumor. I remain open to the idea, given my own existence. Though, as there were but seven sins, I do wonder what this new one is called. Our Ignorance on this matter is most discomforting.

  The dragon hovered over the smoldering ruins of the Aldean camp, smoke swirling in the eddies created from its massive wing beats. It let out a thundering cry of victory that echoed throughout the island. It was the first time Evran had heard the terrifying roar of a dragon. At least now that the dragon had broken its silence, other students still on the island would know what was happening.

  Narro led the small band of surviving students through the woods in search of the entrance to the island’s labyrinth. All they knew about its location was gossip they’d overheard the day before, but that would hopefully be enough. Labyrinth entrances often stuck out against the landscape, appearing in suspicious hillsides, and always with a clearing in front of them. With only a small area to search, they were likely to find it quickly, but that was only half the problem.

  “Don’t use magic,” Lerrum reminded the group.

  Dragons had a keen sense for magic, able to pick up on even the smallest disturbances within its domain. The mages were mostly useless unless they wanted to inform the dragon of the group’s location. However, the two spellblades could enhance their physical capabilities without issue. As long as their mana remained within their bodies, they could fight at full strength. Of course, any such considerations for stealth would be rendered meaningless if they came across a monster that could cast magic, so the group was keen on avoiding fights at all costs.

  The prevailing winds blew over the island, masking the party’s movement in the swaying of the leaves. The green cloaks they’d found in the ruins also aided them in that regard. Aerial predators always had excellent vision, and dragons were no exception. Without the wind and cloaks, Evran doubted they would have made it very far.

  It had been a few minutes since the students had last seen or heard the dragon. They dared to hope that the monster was resting after its battle with the camp, and not out to sky hunting down the fleeing ship. Had they escaped, or at least sent a carrier pigeon to alert Aldea of the danger they were in? In the worst case, it might be a few weeks before a rescue mission would arrive.

  “That hill!” said Kaila, pointing to the elevated terrain in front of them.

  Lerrum turned back to Kaila and nodded. “I agree. Let’s hurry!”

  They had found the right hill, but now they needed to find the clearing. As they continued to creep along the forested hillside, a feeling of dread crept into their hearts. The reality of their situation began to sink in. Maybe Depri was right to flee the way she had. Evran had plenty of food, but not enough to comfortably feed five people for several weeks. They would be on starvation rations. Once inside the labyrinth, they could use magic again, so water wouldn’t be an issue. Of course, they would have to continually fight any monsters that wandered out of its depths. Some could be powerful. To Evran, that was the most terrifying prospect of all.

  Did the others not realize how much danger they were in? Maybe Evran was overthinking things. When he had strayed into his island’s labyrinth many years ago, he was much weaker and inexperienced back then, not to mention he was alone. And they would only venture into the entrance, not the final depths where Evran had fought those horrible things. They would manage.

  “The clearing is up ahead,” said Narro, still in the lead slot of their formation.

  The last leg of the journey would be the most perilous. Though the distance from the edge of the clearing to the entrance would be short, they would need to leave to cover of the forest canopy, giving the dragon an opportunity to spot them and attack. They would have to sprint the whole way.

  By the time they’d arrived at the clearing, the dragon had yet to reveal itself. That was somehow more terrifying than if it were circling overhead. At least then, they would know exactly where it was.

  The clearing led to a large cavern approximately three meters tall, too narrow for the dragon to fit its full body within. They would definitely be safe. All they had to do was make it inside first. Crouching under the cover of the tree line, Evran and the others prepared themselves for the final sprint to the opening.

  “There it is,” said Lerrum, putting his hand on Evran’s shoulder. He gave a reassuring smile. “We’ll be fine.”

  “Looks like the adventuring team left some supplies behind,” Kaila noted. “Think there might be some food in those crates?”

  She pointed to a small earth magic shelter next to the labyrinth entrance. It was more primitive than most of the student shelters back at camp, consisting of three simple walls and a slanted roof. Inside were two crates bearing the Aldean Magic Academy’s official seal.

  “There’s a good chance, but don’t get your hopes up,” said Evran. “The adventurers likely prepared for various types of dungeons, then only brought the supplies they needed once they confirmed what kind this was.”

  “True,” replied Lerrum. “Only one way to find out! Alright everyone, here’s the plan. We make a run for the entrance. Spellblades take point, Kaila, you watch for the dragon. Evran and I will grab the crates. Everyone ready?”

  One by one, they all answered in the affirmative.

  “Alright, let’s go!” Lerrum shouted.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  They took off into the clearing, sprinting as fast as their weary bodies could manage. A primal fear bloomed in Evran’s heart the moment he set foot beneath the open sky, growing stronger with every step he took away from the cover of the trees. The clearing was maybe only a hundred meters long. Though the dragon had yet to show itself, the terror it inspired harried him all the same. Frightened or not, Evran had no choice but to keep running. He could only hope they would all make it in time.

  As they neared the entrance, Evran split off with Lerrum to grab the crates. One was empty, save for a small sack, but the other was too full for either to carry alone. Evran tossed the sack into the heavier crate, then helped Lerrum carry it into the labyrinth. All five students had made it safely inside with the supplies.

  “No sign of the dragon,” said Kaila. “That was fortunate.”

  After setting the crate down, Evran leaned against the dungeon wall and caught his breath. The entrance seemed to be a long straight corridor, half the length of the clearing they’d just run through. At the far end, the path split into two identical branches. The walls were thin with glowstone nearest the opening, but grew thicker as one went deeper inside. There were no monsters present, at least not yet.

  “I’ll get started on a camp,” Evran offered, throwing down his pack. “I have a bit of food in here, but we’ll need to ration it.”

  “Leave that to me!” said Lerrum as he dug through the contents of the crate. “I had a few snacks of my own, but Depri had most of my stuff on her. I hope she’s doing alright after that.”

  “Dragonfire is difficult for even the best healers to deal with,” said Kaila. “She’ll probably need to see a saint.”

  The mood was somber. Still, there was much to be done to turn the entrance into a somewhat safe and livable camp. Wasting no time, Evran dug into the cavern walls with his earth magic. Excavating a labyrinth was a dangerous affair. Much like the dimensional storage bag they’d found earlier, labyrinths were a lot larger on the inside, and disturbing the boundary between the labyrinth-space and real-space could lead to a catastrophic collapse of the spatial magic. Luckily, one had to dig deep into the walls for that to occur, and Evran was only carving out a few meters of space near the entrance.

  Another tremor rocked the island, causing Evran to fear he’d done just that. Perhaps the tolerance was thinner near the entrance? He felt deeper into the walls with his mana sense, hoping to tease out where the boundary was. As it wasn’t even close to where he’d been digging, he continued to carve, though more delicately than before. Tremors were not uncommon, especially on newer islands. The earlier tremor occurred around the same time as the dragon appeared. Evran wondered if the two were somehow related.

  In less than an hour, Evran had made five tiny rooms along one wall, and a small campsite on the opposite side of the corridor. Closer to the entrance, he’d dug out both a latrine and a garbage pit.

  “Ew!” Indon shouted upon realizing the purpose of Evran’s latest creation. “Why build that so close to camp?”

  “Not much of a choice, is there?” responded Evran. “Besides, you won’t have to worry about the smell. The wind always blows out, see?”

  Indon licked his finger and held it out, feeling the airflow pull the moisture off his skin. The labyrinth was exhaling at a fairly constant rate. “Indeed, but might that not change?”

  “The prevailing theory on labyrinths is that they’re just complex ventilation systems to expel the vast quantities of miasma produced by the crystal, while simultaneously protecting it from intruders. That’s why there was always a clear, unobstructed path to the crystal chamber, at least if you could fly or pass through grates.”

  “Is this what they teach at your school?”

  “Yes, but I once had a personal interest in the subject. A long time ago.”

  Not wanting the conversation to go any further, Evran excused himself to check on Kaila’s progress. She had constructed a series of walls to protect the site against projectiles from deeper within, as well as to prevent light from spilling out into the clearing at night. Unfortunately, that would make it easier for enemies to sneak up on them. Narro descended from a slightly elevated watch post she’d added so that someone could always keep an eye out for wandering monsters.

  “You’re better at earth magic than you let on,” said Evran, admiring Kaila’s walls.

  “Walls are easy enough, I suppose. Do you think we should add a few traps?” she asked.

  “Nothing violent, otherwise Narro will somehow fall into it. Do we have any rope we can string rattlestones onto?”

  Narro glared in response, then kicked a loose rock down the tunnel. “I’m not in the mood for your damned jokes, Ev.”

  “Sorry,” responded Evran, somberly. He’d forgotten all about Arietta, whose current whereabouts were unknown. Had she made it onto the ship, or did she perish in the camp? Did the ship even escape? Maybe she was also hiding in a small cave or a false labyrinth somewhere still on the island. None of them knew, and unless she wandered in here, they wouldn’t find out for a long time.

  “Ari’s team was really close to the camp,” Evran began. He placed a hand on Narro’s shoulder. “I’m sure she made it onto the ship. The poor girl is probably worried to death about what her boyfriend is going to do to that poor dragon.”

  Narro cracked a faint smile. He brushed off Evran’s hand and went back to the watch post. Evran found some thread, though only enough for a single span of the cavern. The threat from within being the greatest, he headed further into the labyrinth entrance to set his noisy alarm.

  Rattlestones were easy enough to create, but you needed just the right seed stone to make them loud. Thankfully, Evran kept a wide variety of pebbles on him for just such occasions. Most were exquisite marbles or granites, which he preferred to sculpt with over plain mana-generated stone. He also had tons of obsidian beads for offensive purposes, though Evran rarely used them. Growing stone or generating it ex nihilo consumed far more mana than simply manipulating the earth beneath his feet, after all.

  Evran pulled out a small green-gray stone and poured his mana into it. It quickly doubled in size, then split in half, like a slime undergoing mitosis. He returned one half to the pebble collection in his belt and started making more copies from the other. Once he had several, he grew each one into a hollow sphere with a tiny pair of holes for the string. Inside each, he split off a small, polished ball that could freely tumble around to produce the rattle that was its namesake. In a few short minutes, Evran had made a small cluster of rattlestones from his single pebble of phonolite.

  Feeling on edge the entire time, Evran could sense a terrible, unnerving presence from deeper within the dungeon. He hastily strung up the noise trap, then retreated back to the camp, eager to be closer to his allies again.

  Finally able to relax a little, the surviving students sat about their makeshift campsite and ate a modest lunch while Lerrum took watch. The crate had a little food in it — a few extra rations supplied by the academy. They were the least palatable items, which was probably why the adventurers left them behind in favor of their own supplies. Still, it was food. With that and what they had on them, the students could last two weeks having one small meal a day.

  They quietly ate their meager meal in the dim light of the glowstone. With their camp complete, there was little to do but wait. No one bothered to talk. Everyone was too busy processing the insane situation they found themselves in. He tried his best not to think about it, but the desperation of their position had finally sunk in. Unfortunately for Evran, he didn’t even get the chance to despair.

  “Hey, we have company!” Lerrum shouted. “Get out here, quick!”